Security forces killed two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, holed up inside Delhi Public School here, in an 16-hour encounter on Sunday.
An intermittent firing, which started around 5 p.m. on Saturday, continued in the night and the militants stay put inside the building. Security forces used flashlight disallowing the militants to escape.
“Two militants were killed in the operation in the complex,” said a police spokesman. Both the militants were foreigners and were identified as Abu Talha and Abu Huraira.
Three jawans of the Army’s PARA unit also suffered minor injuries.
Security forces were up against a huge task as the school complex has over 400 rooms. “It took time clearing the rooms one by one. We wanted to be sure that the militants were hiding in the complex. It slowed the operation,” said a police officer.
Combing operation
The operation gained pace in the morning when explosives were used to break into the complex. The firing stopped in the afternoon and the forces launched a major combing operation.
One CRPF officer was killed and two others injured as militants opened fire on a CRPF patrol near Pantha Chowk area on the outskirts of Srinagar on Saturday afternoon and managed their entry into the school.
CRPF officers and police officers carry the coffin containing the body of the CRPF officer who was killed in a militant attack at Pantha Chowk during a funeral procession in Srinagar on Sunday.
Vulnerability to the fore
The operation has once again brought to the fore vulnerability on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, which witnessed more than six attacks in the past one year. Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had claimed responsibility for the Pantha Chowk attack. LeT spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznavi said its men attacked on the CRPF party.
